‘Tiger cats’ are the latest residents in some housing schemes

Dear Editor,

There are serious dangers confronting residents in the newest housing schemes – Parfait Harmonie, Westminster, Schoon Ord and many others.

To begin with, the Housing Ministry informs prospective buyers of land that infrastructure has been put in place beforehand to ensure proper living conditions for residents, but this is far from the truth. There is no way in good conscience that calling a cut-out pathway, a road, should be acceptable. It should be looked at as a blatant insult to one’s intelligence and investment.

To begin with, the streets are in a deplorable state, and can better be described as a series of ever-widening lakes which present a serious impediment to buses and taxis and especially to vehicles bringing in building materials. Roads are built to withstand traffic of all kinds, and the cut-out pathways will never work. Prospective residents are now being threatened with a stoppage of these transport vehicles from entering locations in the affected areas. Some residents are forced to walk lengthy distances to areas where daring vehicles can be obtained.

Some of these people have to get to their places of work and then return to their homes at night, only to be confronted by another danger – ‘tiger cats‘ – no fooling. These animals come out after dark, and are seen by many residents as they emerge from the virtual jungle which proliferates in the surroundings, as there are many lots supposedly unclaimed, or at the least have not been attended to.

I have seen the pawprints of these animals in the wet soil in areas around my lot and on the roadways. Many reports have been lodged with the NDC by residents in relation both to the lakes on the roadways and the jungle-like proliferations which house the tiger-cats and dangerous snakes – labarias and anacondas are frequently sighted. But the NDC shifts the responsibility of safety to the Ministry of Housing with claims that Housing has not as yet transferred any authority to them, so they can do nothing to rid the areas of these eighteenth-century experiences.

What manner of eye-opener are the agencies which are responsible for the safety of residents they sell lots to awaiting to resolve the problems of which I speak? And how long do the residents have to wait for any action to be instituted? I applaud the idea of housing the nation, but in so doing the safety of residents should not be neglected. What now of the recently proposed remigrant housing scheme?

The ministry has claimed that 1,200 remigrant applications for house lots have already been received. If so, it should realize that those applicants having lived abroad for many years have accustomed themselves to real and proper roads, and would expect to see wild animals only in a zoo. If this proposed remigration is expected to be successful and satisfactory in bringing to Guyana a solid economic opportunity, the ministry should begin with the preparation of real roadways, and force the wild animals and snakes back into the jungle. I myself, a recent remigrant, am appalled at the condition of the so-called roadways and the virtual jungle which surrounds my home. For it is a valid expectation that some day these wild animals and snakes which prey on household pets in time will take to attacking humans. Only God can forestall such an occurrence, but the responsible agencies must contend with the implied warranty of habitability due to residents they sell land to for residency purposes.

Yours faithfully,
Jorge Bowenforbes